Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moise, was gunned-down at his home earlier this month, unleashing chaos across the country. The country, however, was in a state of near collapse even before the assassination. Armed gangs had roamed the streets of Port-au-Prince, raping and killing at least 15 people in the prior week. The police force is riddled by rivalry and corruption. Trash is not picked-up, gasoline shortages abound, and there is even a water crisis.
Since the assassination, four people have laid claim to power. The Senate voted one of its members as interim Prime Minister, but it has no standing. The president had appointed a new prime minister two days before his death, but the appointee was never sworn in. “We do not have an answer for this in the Constitution,” said a former justice minister. “We are in a constitutional desert.”
How did it get to this? After Haiti won independence from France in 1804, its victorious general took power. Over the next two centuries, one military regime after another replaced its predecessor in a coup. Haiti reverted to fiefdom when Baby Doc Duvalier replaced by his father as dictator in 1971. Progress was elusive because the nation lacked the rule-of-law. The primary reason for this is that its people never saw the benefits of it. Most nations embraced rule-of-law when they saw how it benefitted other nations. This island nation—isolated by geography, ostracized by other nations, and punished by France with a crushing debt—saw little reward from any of its cash crops. Without prosperity, and the hope it brings, rule-of-law never took hold.
Haiti is on the verge of breaking down into a chiefdom, ruled by warlords. By some estimates, over 100 gangs now control 30 to 60 percent of Haiti’s territory. A strong central government is needed to re-establish order. It may not be the kind of democracy the US enjoys, but Haiti needs order to begin its evolutionary path toward it. One can hope the international community will be a help this time, instead of a barrier.
Source:
Widlore Merancourt and Anthony Faiola, “Haiti on the Brink Amid Power Crisis,” Washington Post, 11 July 2021, A1; see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/07/haiti-president-assassinated/
Yvens Rumbold, “In Port-au-Prince, Nothing is Working,” Washington Post, 11 July 2021, A1.
Widlore Merancourt, Adam Taylor, and Anthony Faiola, “Foreign Diplomats Seem to Snub Interim Haitian Premier,” Washington Post, 11 July 2021, A1.
“Haiti,” Wikipedia, accessed 22 July 2021.
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